Report: Goldman, JP Morgan may drop bids to place Russian Eurobonds

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW, Mar 3 (PRIME) -- U.S. financial organizations Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan may withdraw from a deal to organize the placement of up to U.S. $3 billion Russian Eurobonds in 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.

Goldman was the only U.S. bank which answered to Russia’s offer to organize the bond placement and it said that a final decision will depend on consent by senior executives of the bank, which is now very unlikely because last week the State Department was dissuading U.S. banks from accepting the Russian proposal due to political risks, the sources said.

It is unclear whether Goldman notified Russian authorities of the decision so far, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Goldman’s Vice President for Media Relations Andrew Williams declined to comment.

J.P. Morgan was planning to participate in the deal but did an about-face in the last moment, one of the sources told the newspaper.

“Although U.S. sanctions don’t explicitly ban banks from handling the debt deal, government officials believe that helping Moscow raise money would run counter to the objectives of American foreign policy,” the newspaper reported.

End